Thursday, December 13, 2007

Scott Walker will probably be suspended for head-butting Mike Fisher last night. Does he deserve it? Yeah, he knows better. I think Walker was frustrated by the lopsided nature of the game, and in the end with being unsuccessful at trying to punch thru Fisher's freaking welder's mask face shield. I think you or I could take a Georges Laraque punch if we had that helmet and sheild apparatus. Hockey's code of chivalry, it's variation on the Marquis of Kingsbury rules, should be adjusted for visor guys. Some sort of star chamber, maybe a man-law group within the NHLPA should pass the word that visor guys are gonna have to lose the helmet at the outset of a bout. Maybe everybody should just drop the helmet. Might make lesser men think twice before dropping the gloves. Two more minutes in penalties means less than risking your boyish good looks. It's either that, or make Vinny Prospalmasks the standard across the league.

Good on ya Scott Walker. You took it personal. Pitty your teammates don't share your passion right now. Me thinks Coach Lavvy, quoted in the N&O, would agree:

"I actually thought (Walker) was playing the body out there, one of the few guys that went out and tried to lay some hits in the first period," coach Peter Laviolette said.

Fellow Caniacs, this team is a mess right now. Wufie offers a very passionate treatise on the subject today over at Carolina on Ice. Here's a point he makes that I share:

As a paying fan, I deserve nothing less than total effort. THAT is what I pay for. Not wins. Not goals. Not saves. Not highlight reel plays. I simply pay for effort.

It's meritocracy time. In my mind, roster spots should belong only to the fittest and most committed-here and now. Nobody on this struggling team should think for one moment that their past accomplishments, or their longevity with the club, or the "A" on their chest, or how many TV commercials they've done, or the fact that they have three hockey-playing brothers and a dad who built a back yard rink on the family sod farm, should mean entitlement to ice time.

UPDATE: It's days like this when I want to actually be a journo. It would be juicy to be around this club the next couple of days. Wonder if Lavvy will start throwing phones like Hal McRae did back in the day? Walker as quoted moments ago on Lord Stanley's Blog:

"Things were happening so fast and you’re trying to keep your head down because you’re already cut. It’s tough to say. I’m trying to end the fight or keep my head down anyway, because he’s got a shield.”